The Hallé: Elgar, Mendelssohn and Wagner

Elgar In the South (Alassio)  (20′ )
Mendelssohn Piano Concerto No.1 ( 25′)
Wagner Lohengrin: Preludes to Act I and Act III  ( 12′ )
Wagner Die Meistersinger: Suite  (21′)

This heart-warming programme opens with Elgar’s picturesque overture In the South. Written during an Italian holiday it remains one of the composer’s sunniest works for orchestra. Pianist Francesco Piemontesi’s delicate virtuosity is ideally suited to the first of Mendelssohn’s two glittering piano concertos. Then we hear two contrasting preludes from Lohengrin: in the first, strings gliding as serenely as the swan at the heart of the story, and all the energy and tension below the surface in the second. In a glorious climax, Sir Mark guides us through the intimacy and ceremony of Wagner’s great comic masterpiece, Die Meistersinger.